to think that the government, federal government certainly was closed on monday and tuesday, some of the state government was closed for both days, one of those days as well, saying maybe it came in a little bit light. some interpretation but funny to see all the headlines crossing this morning saying the futures were moving based on claims or the treasuries based on claims numbers and not what was going on on the fiscal cliff. >> a crummy start to the year we get a fourth strike on top of all that, true. >> not such a crummy year for japan. japanese stocks rallying you can the yen continuing its slide against the dollar in all the major currencies, in fact. asian markets mixed overnight trading. the nikkei climbing to a closing level not seen since just before the march 2011 earthquake, marking a third day of gains, mostly drive bine hopes for a new stimulus policy. the yen is sitting closes to the lowest level since september 2010 against the dollar. interesting here because now a lot of people are saying the best or the hottest trade in 2013 will, in fact, be long japanese stocks